Do you ever complain about a bad meal at a restaurant?

[pami]

I will certainly complain if there is something wrong with the meal. If something is wrong with the service, it depends. If they are just obviously busy, I (or Jim) will just get someone else to the table to get anything we may need and of course still tip, if they are rude, I will say something directly to the waiter/waitress. I am not there to be treated rudely, but I will still tip, but only a 15% tip.

 

[jenny82]

I think I've only complained when there has been something wrong with the meal or very bad service (i.e. "Excuse me? We've been seated for 30 minutes and no one has come to our table yet..."). I usually don't complain if I don't like the food, but that hasn't happened very often anyway.

 

[abymummy]

I definately complain! Not loudly or rudely, infact, if it's one of my usual restaurants, I even whisper!

All service providers are expected to have a level of professionalism and level of service. If the food was awful when arrived, I just send it back and actaully ask the manager to taste it! And I do usually accept a replacement meal.

On the other hand, if the service was bad, I would just quietly advise the host/manager and then send in an email or letter, largely discounting or even ommitting the tip!

 

[phenomsmom]

I normally don't have to complain but if I have to I will. I have walked out of a restaurant before even being seated becasue the hostess was busy talking chit chat with someone to even notice we had come in so we stood there for a few minutes and I just got so mad we left.

 

[luckygirl]

I have complained when necessary....(however I don't usually have a problem with Applebees)

One time I found a turkey in Giant marked for 27cents.... so I grabbed it. I know their policy is if it scans for a lower price than it should be you get it for the lower price. But I thought I should be kind & let the meat guy know so that they can check the other turkeys...well the original guy was nice & let the mgr know. The meat mgr did not want to give me the turkey at that price, and was not going to give me the turkey back that I found, and he took the sticker off. I was talking to him explaining that it's unacceptable, that I should get it at the price marked, he was screaming at me, in front of other customers, I can hold my own, but a person not like me would've been mortified....even other customers were saying I can't believe he talked to you like that! So I got it for 27 cents. Then I went online & complained....I got another free turkey, and a $20 GC for Giant with an apology from head quarters.

I love that lipfinity lip color by max factor, but when they 1st came out, the color on the swatch was different than the color on the end of the box, and they were both different from the color inside the tube, and then different again on my lips. At $11 each, I had spent a fortune just trying 900 different colors till I found one that looked good on me, but nothing like any of the swatches offered. So I wrote to max factor, not complaining, but letting them know that there is a huge (3-5 shades) difference, and that they might think about correcting it. They did correct it, explaining that while ppl have different pigments and normal amt of color difference is expected, they would be checking all color charts....I also got 10 coupons for free max factor products....that's about $100 worth of make up. And it was very nice of them, I was not expecting anything.

We got our entire vacation refuded too. $2500... 30 of us went for a friends wedding, to a brand new hotel. It was promised to be open for their wedding, and boasted 10 restaraunts 6 pools, 5 clubs etc, tons of way cool stuff. We get there, 1 pool is open, 1 bar, no clubs, 1 restaraunt, they are still building the gazebo she is to be married in, there are 30 jamaicans, a jack hammer and a back hoe on the beach with us.....the fumes of paints & paint remover in the halls were giving us migraines, they started working at 6am!!! Hello, trying to sleep in here!!! Although, we made the best of it, it was very dissappointing...and the bride was a wreck, she felt horrible making her whole family shell out $$$ to have constant construction sounds going on...they worked all through the night including the morning of her wedding to get the gazebo done for the ceremony. So all 30 of us got our entire trip refunded from Liberty Travel. It was Liberty's guarentee to us that if the hotel wasn't complete we would be accomodated in an equal hotel to what we were paying for (4stars). We were pretty happy, although they can't take back their nightmare of a wedding, it was very stressful for the bride, she lost like 10lbs that week (only 110 to begin with) from worry!

 

[miagi's_mommy]

Yes, I do.. it's not a fancy resturaunt but it's mostly Burger King I complain about their bad service and how cold their food is when they give it to us. that's why I never go there anymore.

other resturaunts I haven't complained about because they have good service and good food which is a plus.

Pizza Hut, Denny's, and Mackenzie River Pizza have good service and good food here.

 

[ilovesiamese]

Originally Posted by Mirinae

Problems we've had: food not heated all the way through or cold, orders messed up, portions of orders not received, being forgotten by our waiter for 45 minutes, having our waiter quit part-way through our visit (ummm, not because of us

he got in a fight with a fellow employee and left in a huff) ... As for "disgusting food problems," I've had food poisoning from one restaurant (could not eat or drink for close to two weeks, lost 10 lbs and was bed-ridden for most of that time), J's sister found hair in her food (after she'd eaten most of it, and the hair very obviously did not belong to anyone at the table -- it was long, blonde and straight, and the only person with long hair is me, and mine is dark and very curly), there was a bandaid in a pizza crust, and one time J's pizza arrived with a slice missing (the pizza delivery man ate it on the way ... must've been a long trip!).

My personal favourite story, though, comes from when we went to a Japanese-Thai fusion restaurant with a group of friends, one of whom always has bad luck with restaurants. We all placed our orders, and when the food arrived most of the orders were screwed up, but one order didn't arrive immediately. My friend with the bad luck waited a bit, wondering if her appetizer was just running behind, but eventually she asked our waitress where it was. The waitress's response? "Oh, we're not serving that tonight." Information my friend could have used when she placed her order, 45 minutes prior to finding out she wasn't getting her food! Boy, did we all complain that night!

That is one of the times I've had to complain. A peice was missing and when I phoned to complain, I ended up talking to several different "managers" and they never knew what to do. They hung up on me twice and finally the "top" guy just came out and said he didn't believe me because he'd never heard of that before. I said well believe it because it's disgusting and I won't be a customer of yours anymore and I will be letting anyone and everyone I know about it too. He then quickly said that he was sorry and offered to send a replacement pizza....I said no, it was too late for that and I will never order from Pizza Hut ever again.

 

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by lisasha3

If it's bad - Yes I complain, but I don't dare send it back for another one or to have them fix it, cause they'll "fix it" allright. Spit in it, throw it on the floor, whatever

That is my biggest fear! I wait till it's half gone or I just let it sit. I'm terrified of some person I don't know taking revenge on me.

I am like this too, some people can be terrible when you complain, I would rather tell them about it and even not get my money back and never go there again than risk it.

Originally Posted by emily_325

I'm a definite complainer if I think its warranted. But I often do so via Internet. That way no one spits in your food and you usually always come out with a coupon or gift certificate.

Most often though with restaurants I have issues with the service and not the food. Then either deduct from their tip, or leave no tip if the service was particularly horrible.

I also complain/compliment via the internet after I have told them at the restaurant, not that it has happened alot as we have just a few favourite restaurants and tip well ans usually get the same wait staff, on the occasions where the service has been awful, I will not hesitate to just leave a penny but if it is a problem with the food, I will not take it out on the wait staff's tip.

Oh and if there is something to complain about, even if I would let it slide, my BF won't hesitate to tell them about it!